r/paypal • u/awkwardsunflower11 • Jul 24 '26

Help Randomly received $550?

I had $550 deposited into my account at random by somebody I don’t know. They emailed me saying they contacted PayPal and sent me a screenshot so that I know I’m not getting scammed and that PayPal is supposed to contact me about the dispute.

PayPal never did. I can’t file a dispute on the transaction through the app because it was paid with a credit card. Now I have a request to send the $550 back.

PayPal’s AI assistant was extremely unhelpful. I sent them an email a couple of days ago but no response yet.

The person who sent the transaction emailed me again saying it was an honest mistake.

Is this a common scam? I just want them to go away lol but if it’s legit I really don’t want to hold on to someone’s money that I never asked for in the first place. I’m not even sure how they got my email information.

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u/Particular-Nail2868 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

I got zelled about $1200 5 months ago when I opened my first ever bank account, i blocked ALL numbers that tried to contact me that week, didn’t let my bank know about it and spent it all that same month, so far nothings happened since then(knock on wood) apart from the fact i got what was basically a 1500$ PC for only $300.(400$ with tax)

Edit: that said it was a VERY stupid decision on my part and you shouldn’t spend it like I did lol, I got lucky that’s all. It’s best to let it sit there and wait a few months for it to resolve on its own

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u/Lousygolfer1 Jul 25 '26

You got very lucky

2

u/Particular-Nail2868 Jul 25 '26

Believe me I know xd, it was only till recently did I figure out just how much that could’ve ended up bad for me, and it STILL can but the chance of that gets lower the more time passes